THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. (Applause.) Thank you very
much for that welcome. It's great to be back in Ohio again. And it
looks to me like Batavia is Bush-Cheney country. (Applause.)

And it's true that Lynne has known me since I was 14 years old, but
she wouldn't go out with me until I was 17. (Laughter.) I tell
people we got married because Dwight Eisenhower got elected President
of the United States. True story. In 1952, I was a youngster living
in Lincoln, Nebraska with my folks. Dad worked for the Soil
Conservation Service. Eisenhower got elected, reorganized the
government, Dad got transferred to Casper, Wyoming. And that's where I
met Lynne, and we grew up together, went to high school together, and
recently celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. (Applause.) I
explained to a group the other night that if it hadn't been for
Eisenhower's great election victory, Lynne would have married somebody
else. (Laughter.) And she said, right, and now he'd be Vice President
of the United States. (Laughter.) No doubt in my mind. (Laughter.)

Well, like most of you, Lynne and I watched the debate on Friday
and thought the President did a fantastic job. (Applause.) Now, with
22 days left in the campaign, the choices in this election are very
clear. The stakes are high, both at home and abroad. And I believe on
November 2nd, the American people are going to make George W. Bush
President for four more years. (Applause.)

The President and I are delighted to be running in Ohio with a
solid slate of Republican candidates, first among them, of course, is
your own congressman, Rob Portman. (Applause.) I served in the House
of Representatives for 10 years, and I got to be a pretty good judge of
congressional horse flesh. But I've got to tell you, in all my years
of service, Rob Portman is right at the top of my list of competent,
capable, dedicated public servants. (Applause.)

And he also makes a pretty good Joe Lieberman and John Edwards.
(Laughter.) I better explain that. Because -- Rob has been great
because the last two campaigns, this one and also four years ago, he
turned and devoted a lot of effort to being my debating partner in the
warm-up for those televised vice presidential debates. And I got to
tell you, he was tougher than either one of them. (Laughter and
applause.) I don't want to fault John Edwards. After all, it's pretty
tough to defend John Kerry's positions when you don't know what they
are. (Laughter and applause.)

But also up for reelection this year here in Ohio is George
Voinovich. And I know George isn't here today, but he's served your
state extremely well in the United States Senate. And he's well on his
way to another term in the United States Senate. (Applause.)

And I want to mention two other old friends of mine. Mike DeWine
and Governor Bob Taft couldn't be here today, but I enjoy very much and
appreciate and respect their service to the nation, as well.

I had a great time debating Senator Edwards last Tuesday.
(Applause.) People tell me that Senator Edwards got picked because of
his good looks, his charm, his great hair, his sex appeal.
(Laughter.) I said, "How do you think I got the job?" (Laughter.)
Why do they laugh when I say that? (Laughter.)

But in all seriousness, this is a very important election -? and it
could not come at a more crucial time in our history. Today we face an
enemy today every bit as intent on destroying us as the Axis powers
were in World War II. This is not an enemy we can reason with or
negotiate with or appease. This is, to put it simply, an enemy that we
must destroy. And with George Bush as Commander-in-Chief, that is
exactly what we are doing. (Applause.)

Under President Bush's leadership, we are confronting the
terrorists with our military, so we do not have to fight them with
armies of firefighters, police and medical personnel on the streets of
our own cities.

Since the attacks of September 11th, President Bush has led a
clear, steady, and consistent effort to protect the American people.
We are going after the terrorists wherever they train and hide. And we
are confronting regimes that sponsor terrorists or give them safe
haven. And in the broader Middle East, we're aiding the rise of
democracy, because free nations will not be the breeding grounds of
terror.

We're making progress. We have ended the Taliban regime. And
Saddam Hussein is in jail. (Applause.) We have broken up terror cells
around the world, and captured or killed thousands of al Qaeda. We're
training security forces in both Afghanistan and Iraq and we're
rebuilding schools and hospitals to improve lives. And we're helping
the people of Afghanistan and Iraq to build representative,
democratically elected governments. Afghanistan, where almost half of
the 10 million registered voters are women, held its first democratic
election in history on Saturday. (Applause.) And Iraq will have
democratically -- democratic elections next January. This is
absolutely vital to completing the task of making certain that those
nations don't ever again become breeding grounds for terror, or for the
development and use of weapons of mass destruction.

President Bush does not deal in empty threats and half-way
measures, and his determination has sent a clear message. Just five
days after Saddam was captured, the government of Libya agreed to
abandon its nuclear weapons program and turn the materials over to the
United States. (Applause.) Today, the uranium, the centrifuges, and
the designs for nuclear weapons that once were hidden in Libya are
locked up and stored away, never again to be a danger to Americans.

The President is determined to prevail in the global war on terror,
but even after 9/11, John Kerry has often seemed not quite to
understand the threat. From 9/11 to this hour, our principal concern
has had to be that the terrorists will strike again, and that this time
they will try use even deadlier weapons. We know they seek chemical,
biological and nuclear capability, which means we cannot wait until we
are attacked to deal with them, as Senator Kerry suggested in his
speech at the Democratic Convention. Nor can we think of our goal in
this war in the way Senator Kerry described it yesterday in The New
York Times. "We have to get back to the place," he said, where
terrorism is "a nuisance," sort of like -? and these are his
comparisons -- sort of like gambling and prostitution.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: This is naive and dangerous, as was Senator
Kerry's reluctance earlier this year to call the war on terror an
actual war. He preferred to think of it, he said, as primarily an
intelligence and law enforcement operation. This is all part of a
pre-9/11 mind set, and it is a view that we cannot go back to.

The 9/11 attack was the worst ever on American soil. We lost more
people than at Pearl Harbor. Since then, we've seen attacks all over
the world -- in Madrid, Casablanca, Mombassa, Riyadh, Istanbul,
Jakarta, Bali, Baghdad, Beslan in Russia, and most recently in Egypt.
This is a global conflict. If we fail to aggressively prosecute the
war on terror, destroying terrorists where we find them and confronting
governments that sponsor terror, the danger will only increase. The
terrorists will escalate their attacks, both here at home and overseas,
and the likelihood will increase that they will acquire weapons of mass
destruction to use against us. Ultimately the cost of dealing with
this threat will be far higher than confronting it now.

Something Senator Kerry said in the first presidential debate
reveals a similar mind set, the same lack of understanding of the
danger we face. He said that before America acts, we must pass a quote
"global test."

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: The President and I know, even as we work to
build international alliances around the world, that our job is not to
conduct international opinion polls. Our job is to protect the
American people. And we will never -- (Applause.) We will never seek
a permission slip to defend the United States of America. (Applause.)

When John Kerry suggests a global test, he goes right back to his
beginnings in politics, when he said as he ran for Congress the first
time, he would only deploy troops under the authority of the United
Nations.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: During the 1980s, he opposed Ronald Reagan's
major defense initiatives that brought victory in the Cold War. In
1991, when Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait and stood poised to dominate
the Persian Gulf, Senator Kerry voted against Operation Desert Storm.
You occasionally hear some bold talk from him, but it cannot disguise a
30-year record of coming down on the wrong side of virtually every
major defense issue. (Applause.)

Perhaps Senator Kerry's most notorious vote is the one against
funding for our troops. After voting for the use of force in Iraq, he
voted against the $87 billion needed by our men and women in uniform
for ammunition, spare parts, and fuel. The reason for his shift was
simple: Howard Dean, the anti-war Democrat in the Democratic
primaries, was surging ahead. Now, I have to ask: if Senator Kerry
can't stand up to the pressures posed by Howard Dean, how can we expect
him to stand up to the al Qaeda? (Applause.)

The other night in the debate, Senator Kerry said, and I quote,
"I've never changed my mind about Iraq." (Laughter.) "I do believe
Saddam Hussein was a threat." End quote. And then within minutes he
changed his mind, saying that Iraq, and I quote "wasn't a threat." The
Senator, who likes to say he never wavers, wavered within the course of
a single debate, and that matters, because our troops, our allies, and
our enemies must know where America stands. (Applause.)

The President of the United States must be clear and consistent.
The Iraqi people need to know that America will always keep its
promises. The terrorists need to know that we will not cut and run.
And our men and women in uniform need to know that we will honor their
service and sacrifice by completing the mission. (Applause.)

President Bush knows that our dedicated servicemen and women
represent the very best of the United States of America. And I want to
thank them, and their families, and all the veterans here with us today
for what they've done for all of us. (Applause.) One of the most
important commitments that the President made during the 2000 campaign
was that our armed forces would be given the resources they need and
the respect they deserve, and he has kept his word to the U.S.
military. (Applause.)

In his years in Washington, John Kerry has been one of a hundred
votes in the United States Senate -? and very fortunately on matters of
national security, his views rarely prevailed. A senator can be wrong;
a senator can be confused; a senator can be indecisive for 20 years
without consequence to the nation. But a President always casts the
deciding vote. And in this time of challenge, America needs -? and
America has -? a President we can count on to get it right.
(Applause.)

Senator Kerry's back-and-forth reflects a habit of indecision, and
sends a message of confusion. And it's all part of a pattern. He has,
in the last several years, been for the No Child Left Behind Act -? and
against it. He has spoken in favor of the North American Free Trade
Agreement -? and against it. He is for the Patriot Act -? and against
it. Senator Kerry says he sees two Americas. It makes the whole thing
mutual ?- America sees two John Kerrys. (Applause.)

Our country requires strong and consistent leadership for our
actions overseas, as well as for our policies here at home. When
President Bush and I took the oath of office on the inaugural platform
on the west front of the Capitol, our economy was sliding into
recession. Then, on 9/11, terrorists struck and shook our economy once
again. The President responded by delivering tax cuts four times in
four years.

Every American who pays federal income taxes benefited from the
Bush tax cuts -? and so has our economy. We've created jobs for 13
consecutive months, a total of over 1.9 million new jobs during that
period. (Applause.) Mortgage rates, interest rates and inflation are
all low. Consumers are confident. Businesses are investing, families
taking home more of what they earn. We're seeing record exports for
farm products. Farm income is up. Our farm economy is strong. That's
good for the entire nation.

We know there are still challenges, especially in our manufacturing
communities. The President and I will not be satisfied until every
American who wants to work can find a job. (Applause.) We plan to
double the number of workers trained through the federal government's
job training program. We've proposed a quarter of a billion dollars to
help more workers train at our nation's fine community colleges. We'll
improve math and science education in our public high schools so that
every high school graduate gets the quality education they deserve and
the foundation they need to fill the jobs of the 21st century.

Our accomplishments these past four years have made America safer,
stronger, and better. They also demonstrate something about the
character of our President. He didn't go to the White House to mark
time and spend his energy on small goals. He went to take on the big
issues, and to make serious reforms. He has led with confidence, with
clear vision, and unwavering purpose. He's made hard choices, and he's
kept his word. And that's exactly how he will continue to lead the
country for the next four years. (Applause.)

In our second term, we'll keep moving forward with a pro-growth,
pro-jobs agenda. We'll work to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.
(Applause.) And to help families and small businesses, we'll lead a
bipartisan effort to reform and simplify the federal tax code.
(Applause.)

We will work to end lawsuit abuse. (Applause.) We know that it's
a lot easier for America's businesses to hire new workers if they don't
have to keep hiring lawyers. (Applause.)

We will work for medical liability reform because we know the cost
of malpractice insurance is creating a crisis, not only in Ohio, but
all across the nation. America's doctors should be able to spend their
time healing patients, not fighting off frivolous lawsuits.
(Applause.)

Our opponents have a very different vision for our country. In the
Senate, John Kerry voted to increase taxes 98 times. He opposed the
President's middle class tax relief, and he voted to squeeze another
$2,000 per year from the average middle class family. He is opposed to
reform of our legal system, and he is against medical liability
reform. Now Senator Kerry is proposing massive increases in federal
spending. His big idea for the economy: raise our taxes.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: That's all right. (Laughter.) President Bush
and I will also continue to defend our society's fundamental rights and
values. We stand for a culture of life and reject the brutal practice
of partial birth abortion. (Applause.) We stand strongly for the
Second Amendment and will defend the individual right of every American
to bear arms. (Applause.) We believe that our nation is "one nation
under God." (Applause.) And we believe Americans ought to be able to
say so when we pledge allegiance to our flag. (Applause.)

There shouldn't be any question about this -? and there wouldn't be
if we had more reasonable judges on the federal bench. The Democrats
in the Senate have been doing everything they can -? including using
the filibuster ?- to keep the President's sensible, mainstream nominees
off the bench.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: They are hoping to wait the President out.
But I've got news for them. That's not going to happen. We're going
to win this election. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: And a good way to deal with the problem of the
Democratic filibuster in the Senate is to reelected good Republicans
like George Voinovich. (Applause.)

My friends, the differences between the President and his opponent
are as sharp as they can possibly be, and the consequences for the
country are enormous. On vital matters of national security, Senator
Kennedy -- excuse me. (Laughter and applause.) I keep forgetting that
Senator Kerry is the more liberal of the two. (Laughter.)

The Senator offers a record of weakness and a strategy of retreat
on defense issues. President Bush offers a record of steady purpose
and resolute action, and a strategy for victory. Senator Kerry is a
tax-and-spend liberal; President Bush, a compassionate conservative.
Senator Kerry wants to empower government; President Bush will use
government to empower people. (Applause.) John Kerry seems to think
that all the wisdom is found in Washington, D.C.; George Bush trusts
the wisdom of the American people. (Applause.)

On issue after issue, President Bush has a clear vision for the
future of our nation. America has come to know him, and I have come to
admire him very much. I watch him at work every day. He's a person of
loyalty and kindness, a man who speaks plainly and means what he says.
I have seen him face some of the hardest decisions that can come to the
occupant of the Oval Office -? and make those decisions with the wisdom
and the humility Americans expect in their President.

Under President Bush's leadership, we will use America's great
power to serve great purposes, to protect our homeland by turning back
and defeating the forces of terror, and to spread hope and freedom
around the world. Here at home, we'll continue building a prosperity
that reaches every corner of the land so that every child in America
has a chance to learn, to succeed, and to rise in the world.
(Applause.)

The President and I are honored by your commitment to the cause we
all share. President Bush and I will wage this effort with complete
confidence in the American people. The signs are good -? here in Ohio,
and even in Massachusetts. (Applause.) According to news accounts,
people leaving the Democratic National Convention in July asked a
Boston policeman for directions. He replied, "Leave here -? and go
vote Republican." (Laughter and applause.)

President Bush and I are honored to have the support of that police
officer, and of Democrats, Republicans, and independents from every
calling in American life. We're grateful to our many friends across
the great state of Ohio. I want to thank you for this tremendous
welcome today. We're proud to have you on the team. And together, on
November 2nd, we'll see our cause forward to victory.